A New Day, Together
by Absol Master
Summary: A special New Year fanfic! Wil, Dan and Rebecca have spent many years apart, and this New Year could be their chance to finally patch up their friendship and return to Pherae together, after waiting so long, but it won’t be easy… Oneshot


This fanfic is very special: It is my fifteenth on as well as the last fanfic of 2007!

It's so sad that this year is ending, it has been a very special one for me…sniff But I'm quite sure next year will be special too, and I look forwardto it! It'll be another year of fanfic writing!

Anyway, hope you enjoy this fanfic, and Happy New Year!

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A new day, together

_It's a new day, a new start…Who knows where it'll lead us next?_

The sun was slowly rising. One by one, the rays of light shone through the trees, touching all with its golden fingers.

"Ah, isn't it beautiful? Sunrise," Lyn said.

"A new day, a new start," Eliwood sighed, looking up into the leaves. "Let's go home."

Sain and Kent stepped forward to Lyn. "Might you want a ride home, milady?" Sain offered, smiling. Behind him, his horse snorted, flicking its mane.

"Lady Lyndis," Kent said. "I was wondering if you wanted to ride…"

Lyn laughed. "How should I choose?" she exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Wil was watching, wordless, as Dart started to walk away.

"Wait, Da—Dart!" he shouted, racing forward and grabbing his arm. "Don't go yet! You _must _remember! You're really Dan, and your true home is Pherae!"

Dan turned, anger making his eyebrow twitch. "I am _not _Dan! The name's Dart! You're such an idiot!"

Wil stepped back, afraid he might get injured by the pirate.

"Alright, then I'll—"Wil began.

"Why doesn't one of you carry Wil back, then?" Lyn suggested to the two cavaliers.

"No, I'm not going back to Caelin," Wil replied, bowing his head. "I'm sorry. Dart, if you won't remember now, you will someday! I'll join you, and become a pirate too!"

Dart laughed. "Fargus doesn't take in weaklings," he shouted. "Now, I ya'll let me, I've gotta get back. I belong with Fargus, ya hear me?"

"No, wait!" Wil persisted. "I'll become a pirate, really!"

Dart shook his head. "Pretty stubborn, aren't ya," he commented. "Well, Fargus is looking for recruits…"

Dart began to walk away through the forest. Wil could only stand, mouth agape. Dart turned. "Hey, hurry up, idiot! Fargus's waiting!"

"Rebecca," Wil said, turning to the archer. "You should go home. Your father wouldn't want to lose both his children."

Nodding without a word, Rebecca returned to where Lowen stood by his horse. _Oh, I don't know how long it'll take to make Dan remember, _he thought. _It might be years till I see you again. _Then, he strengthened his resolve. _And when you do see me again, your brother'll be back! Wait for us, please, Rebecca._

Wil had already spent almost a year in Fargus's band of pirates. Life was hard on him. They spent up to two weeks at sea at a time, plundering passing merchant sips of their treasures, for supplies. They had travelled past a million shores, gone as far as the Caledonian and Sacaean coasts.

He was already used to the pirate ways, the way they spoke and ate. The one thing he had never learnt to do was to learn how to use axes like they did. Fortunately, his skills at the bow had made him valuable to the pirates, and Dart had often been praised for introducing him to the pirates. There was even a ballista on the ship now. The year, Wil knew, was ending, and the pirates would be returning to shore soon.

"We're heading fer Badon to stick up supplies," Fargus bellowed, giving a hearty laugh. "We're going ter be rich, mateys!"

Badon. The very name sounded so familiar to Wil. Wasn't it—wasn't it the port nearest to Pherae?

At once, Wil remembered the many times his father had taken him to the merchant markets of Badon, and immediately, the goal of his joining the pirates returned clearly to mind.

"Land ahoy!" yelled the pirate watching from the crow's nest. The ship began to tend right, and at the horizon, Wil spied a sliver of pale beige, which he knew to be the shore of Badon.

Soon, the ship had drawn into a hidden part of the bay. One by one, the pirates climbed down a rope ladder into the sea, where they swam to shore. Fargus stayed on board to steer the ship away. Thankfully, the wind was in their favour, and Wil watched from the shore as it sailed smoothly away.

"Hey, Wil, get moving, alright?" Trey, another pirate from Fargus's band, called to him. "We've only got a day to get everything we need! Fargus'll be back t'morrow morn to get us!"

Wil turned quickly and followed the rest to the port. _Badon…_Finally, he was closer to home than ever!

As they approached the many shop stands of the prosperous harbour, Wil noticed the many colourful streamers hanging from the shop's posts and roofs. Many of the shops were selling New Year cakes and biscuits, well decorated in colours to suit the festive mood. At once, Wil knew that it was New Year's eve.

Inevitably, he began to recall the years before his travels, the years he had had with Dan and Rebecca. They had stayed up together in the night, waiting for midnight to come, when they would wish each other Happy New Year, and have a feast of New Year cakes. He missed those times so much now, but new all to well that they were long past.

_Not if I can help it! _He added determinedly as he looked about at the many shops in the area.

"Wil! Wil! Wait up!"

Wil stopped in his tracks when he heard that voice. It was a voice he had not heard for a while, but it could only belong to one person—Rebecca.

He turned, than began to call her name, half amazed, half excited. The green-haired archer was racing to him with surprising speed.

"Wil!" she shouted, throwing her arms around him. "I thought…I'd never see you!"

Wil stood stunned for a while. "How'd you get here?" he asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Oh," she replied, tears suddenly glazing her eyes over. "I moved here, hoping you and the pirates would finally come someday. It paid off, didn't it?"

Wil stepped back. "I—Dan doesn't remember yet," Wil replied guiltily. "He doesn't remember…anything. And I haven't been trying."

Rebecca looked crestfallen. "Don't stop trying," she said, visibly holding back tears. "You can take as long as ten years, I don't care. I'll wait for you, and I'll always be here. All I want in my life now is to share those good times with my brother again."

But Wil did not want to wait. Suddenly, he only wished that the three of them could celebrate New Year together. He knew he would stop at nothing to get to feel that again, that beautiful feeling when you were with your closest friends, and had to care about nothing but to enjoy the moment.

"Wil! Who' ya talking to?" came Dart's voice in a shout. He came closer and took a close look at Rebecca. "Aren't ya that archer from th'army?"

"Dan…you have to remember something! About us, about the two of us!" Wil shouted desperately. "Rebecca is your sister! I'm your best friend!"

When he had been smiling a moment ago, Dart was now boiling with rage. Dropping the sacks of rice he had been holding, he growled, "I thought y'were over tha' calling me 'Dan' thing. Why do ya keep doing it? Is it some kinda joke? Well, ya'll m make no fool of me! I thought y'really were my friend!"

With one swing of his powerful arm, he had knocked Wil to his knees.

"Are you alright, Wil?" Rebecca quickly exclaimed, kneeling down to check on him. Turning to Dart, she said in tears, "Dan! My brother! I thought I had found you, but you really aren't _you _anymore…"

"So, you too?" he roared in reply, knocking her down as well. "You're both mad! There is no Dan! I am Dart! Y'got it all wrong!"

Wil sighed, standing and brushing dirt from his clothes. "All I wanted was to spend a good New Year with my two best friends…But that was just selfish of me…" he said. "I miss it. It was—fun, when we three were—"

"You aren't much of a _best friend_," Dart snarled. "You could make it better by not calling me Dan!" Turning away, he sat down, looking downtrodden. "When I was a kid…I always had great New Years…Better than this."

_He remembered his childhood. _Those memories were so deep in his mind, so memorable, that he could still remember them, fragments of a lost past. Thiscould be the key to unlocking the rest of his memory.

Dart was suddenly reminiscing the childhood he had lost, desperately trying to rescue it from the memories that eluded him ever so often. "I remember…I had this great friend…a really good one. He always played…with me…"

Dart was shaking with the effort to recall. Suddenly, he had forgotten where he was, and the only thing he wanted to do now was to remember every memory of his times as a child. "Yes!" he shouted. "And…when it was New Year…Oh, I miss it so much! He and my…my sister…Yes, I had a sister! We used to stay up…" Tears were coming to Dart's eyes. Wil had never seen him so full of emotion before.

"I don't remember his face, but his voice, yes! He loved to tell me of everything, yes, everything he saw that was interesting… And his name…"

Dart's lips moved, as if trying to form the syllables of the name he had called so often as a child, the name of that friend who had kept him so much company. That friend who had made him happy. He wanted to call that name out again, like before…

Dart froze. A doorway to a million new sights suddenly seemed to open in his mind, and all memory came rushing in through the floodgates of his mind. Slowly, looking up to the young man who had followed him all over in desperate attempts to make him remember, he said slowly, "My friend…his name was…Wil." He paused, drawing in a breath of amazement. "And my name really is Dan! You're my best friend, Wil! And Rebecca is my sister!" He was laughing now, shouting everything he could remember. "I live in Pherae! And remember, Wil? You were the one who decided to accompany me when I wanted to go out and make a living!"

Wil began to laugh as well. He knew that his best friend, the one he had been trying to bring back for so long, had finally returned. Beside him, Rebecca was already crying for joy; the brother she had lost was finally back, body and mind.

Dan ran over to one of the other pirates. He told him something, making the other pirate stare on in shock.

"Come on, let's go home," Dan called. Wil smiled, nodding.

So at last, his job was done. At last, they could spend New Year together, like before they had all gone their separate ways. At last, back to how it had been, the three of them…

"Need a lift?" came a voice from behind Wil. All three turned, and to their complete surprise, there Farina stood.

"Why're you looking at me like that?" the Pegasus Knight asked. "I just came here to buy New Year stuff! You know that Badon is the best place to get good deals!"

All three were stunned that they had met Farina in Badon as well.

"Why that shocked look? Oh, yeah, Dart," she added. "Remember the treasure map you gave me?"

Dart nodded. "What about it?"

"I found the treasure!" she exclaimed. "I'm rich now, thanks to you! Normally, I wouldn't share it, but since you're the one who gave me the map, I'll let you have a tenth of it. That's ten thousand gold coins!" Then, grinning, she added, "On one condition."

"What is it?" Dart asked eagerly, excited by the thought of the money he'd get.

"You must…marry me!" Farina replied, still smiling.

Dart's face brightened. "It's a deal," he agreed. Farina looked too happy for words upon hearing that.

"Come on, now, I'll give you a free ride back to Pherae!" she shouted eagerly. Her pegasus, which was behind her, answered to her call.

"I thought pegasi did not allow men to touch them?" Wil asked.

"Oh, I trained my pegasus not to fear you men," Farina answered proudly.

Uneasily, Wil climbed onto the pegasus' back, and as soon as he was on, it took off into the boundless sunset sky with a few beats of its graceful white wings.

The ride was short, and though Wil was unused to riding, and felt slightly dizzy as he got off, he had enjoyed the strange feeling of freedom the ride had given him.

The first thing they did was to go to Dart and Rebecca's house. Even after the many years they had been away, the path was familiar.

"We're home, Mother! Father! And so's Dan!"

A middle-aged woman answered Rebecca's call, her look of disbelief and anticipation, after waiting for more than four years, all vanished into tears of love and relief.

"Dan! Rebecca!" she cried, embracing the two tightly like she never wanted to lose them again. "It's been so long since all of us were together!" Farina and Wil waited at a side, not wanting to interrupt this moment.

"Mother," Dan said, once she had let go of the two. "Farina here…She asked me to marry her!" Wil urged the Pegasus Knight forward, and she did so, smiling at Dan's mother.

"Not a bad choice," she praised Dart. "She's pretty, and looks clever. How about you, Rebecca? When'll you get married?"

"I…er…no one's asked me, so…" she replied uneasily.

_In my heart, I really do want to marry her, _Wil thought to himself, sighing. _Don't I? _He knew he did. He loved her.

"Uh… Rebecca.," Wil interrupted. Dan and the siblings' mother looked at him expectantly, and Wil felt his whole face go hot. _Oh no, I'm blushing! I know I am! _"Rebecca, I really wouldn't mind if you—if you…"

Everyone laughed in the warm evening sun as Wil tried to propose. It suddenly felt like an evening five years ago, the three of them talking, like they did not have to care about anything more. He loved that feeling.

Before they knew it, midnight was nearing, and the three friends were sitting in the garden, looking up into the dark sky. Wil and Rebecca's fingers were intertwined; he could hear her deep breaths of wonder at the sky, where the million blinking stars watched the earth in eternal orbits. To his right, Dan stared up to the heavens, drinking in every last memory he could get hold of.

_I've never felt such peace or joy, _Wil thought with a sigh. _It has been a long time…_

"Happy New Year, Wil and Dan," Rebecca whispered to the two, seeing the moon reach the middle of the sky.

"Happy New Year, you two," Wil replied.

The night breeze washed soothingly over the three, carrying the fragrance of roses and frangipani. Rebecca's breaths had softened, and when Wil turned to look at her, she had fallen asleep against the wall.

"Asleep, isn't she?" Dan asked from Wil's right, turning his head. "I guessed so, she's always the first to fall asleep." Wil laughed silently to himself. Everything was the same as it had been before. All he knew was that this was the life he loved, and he would treasure it deep in his heart.

It's a new day, a new start…Who knows where it'll lead us next?

As long as my friends are with me, I don't care.

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So, remember to enjoy next year! Reviews for this fanfic welcome, though I probably won't be editing it. 


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